wyner



Feb. 28, 1956 J. L. WYNER 2,736,031

BODYGARMENT Filed Sept. 24, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l fnmenior' Jzwiin L.TA/jner gy Q 642w." a?

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J. L. WYNER BODY GARMENT Feb. 28, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 24,1953 I71 V872 507' diasiin L. pz'yrzer y United States Patent" BODYGARMENT Justin L. Wyner, Brookline, Mass., assignor to The VaniaCompany, Inc., Brockton, Mass., a corporation of Rhode IslandApplication September 24, 1953, Serial No. 382,067

2 Claims. (Cl. 2111) This invention relates to a garment having a neckopening, armscyes and usually sleeves and is of a type of which knittedundergarments are representative, the invention being particularlyuseful when embodied in an undershirt or similar garment for infantswear.

Any one who has attempted to dress an infant is aware of the ditficultyof getting the childs arm into the sleeves of the usual undershirt.While one arm may be inserted in its sleeve without too much difliculty,it is necessary, in preparing to insert the other arm into its sleeve,to bend the arm sharply at the elbow and to twist it more or less ingetting the childs fist through the armscye. Attempts have been made toremedy this difiiculty, for example, by making the neck opening of thegarment unduly large so that the garment may he slipped sidewise toshift the armscye away from the body, but this expedient does not by anymeans overcome the difiiculty, and the provision of an abnormally largeneck opening interferes'with the proper fit of the garment and reducesthe protection which the garment is intended to afford at points whereit is most essential that such protection be provided.

In accordance with the present invention, a body garment, for example anundershirt having a neck opening, armscyes and shoulder portionsintervening between the neck opening and its armscye and which isusually provided with sleeves and which is intended to be donned bydrawing it upwardly over the wearers feet, is so constructed that theshoulder portions and sleeves, if the latter be used, comprise separableparts which may be separated to admit the shoulder and arm and thenWrapped about the shoulder and arm and united so as to provide a wellfitting garment of generally customary appearance; ,-While it ispreferable to construct both of the shoulder portions and, both of thesleeves, if sleeves be employed, so as to provide. parts which may bewrapped about the shoulder and, arms, reasonablygood results may beobtained if only, one shoulder portion and the corresponding sleeve beso constructed since, as above noted, the introduction of one arm intoan armscye is not especially-,difiicult, the real difficulty beingexperienced in introducing the other arm into its armscye. Somewhatsimilar results, withrespect to ease of donning of the garment may beobtained by separably uniting the front and backpo rtions of the garmentby the use of appropriate fastener means along lines extending from thelower edge of the garment up to therespective armscye and then, ifsleeves be employed, by dividing each sleeve along a line extending fromthe lower part of the armscye to the .endfof vthesleeve and providingfastener elements for securingthe separable portions of the sleevesafter the garment has been put in place. With such an arrangement th'ehead of the wearer is passed through the neck opening, the sleeves arewrapped about the arms and then the fastener elements are manipulated toclose the sleeves and to unite the front and back portions of thegarment at the sides.

Inaccordance with a further arrangement, theentire 7 2,736,031 Ilatenterl Feb. 28, 1956 back of the garment including the backs of theshoulder portions-and the backs of the sleeves may be made separate andindependent of the. front portion ofthe garment (with the correspondingparts of the shoulder portions and sleeves) and appropriate fastenermeans may be provided for uniting these front and back lportions. Withsuch an arrangement the infant will be laid upon the back portion of thegarment, the front portion will then be laid over the infant, and thefasteners manipulated to join the front and back portions at theshoulders and the sleeves and along the sides of the garment.

While the invention is particularly'useful, asi'above suggested, whenembodied inan infantsundershirt, its utility is not necessarily limitedto that particular type of garment since it may be embodied in infantsbands, shirts (whether having short or long sleeves or Whether the shirtbe of the slip-on type, or of the double breasted type); it maybeembodied in nighties and sacdues, polo shirts, pajama tops and soforth. Any desired type of fastener may be employed for uniting theparts after the garment has been applied, such for example as snapfasteners, buttons and buttonholes, hooks and eyes, slide fasteners,tie-tapes or safety pins, Not only does the invention provide for theeasy donningof the garment but it is also of value when, for example,the child wets both diaper and undershirt but not the outerwear. Undersuch circumstances it is merely necessary to separate the'normally-united parts of the undershirtat the shoulders and sleeves andto pull the. garment down over the feet without removing the outer wear.

Objects of the invention are to provide a body garment having a neckopening and armscyes which may be donned without necessitating thebending of the arms in getting them through the armcyes; to provide abody garment having a neck opening of normal size, armscyes and sleeves,and so devised that the garment may be donned by drawing it upwardlyover the feet and so that thear-msgmay be passed through the armcyes andsleeves without requiring that the arms be bent at the elbows; toprovide an undergarment, having a neck opening, armscye,'shoulderportions and sleeves, which may be removed by pulling it downover the feet without removing outer-'- clothing; to -provide a body'garment having shoulder-portions, at least one of which comprises partswhich are united only by'fasteners and preferably though not necessarilyhaving the fasteners so located that the child will not lie upon thefasteners whether he be placed upon his back or on his stomach. Afurther object is to provide a sleeved undershirt which may be donnedby.

pulling'it upwardly over thefeet and which has shoulder portionsintervening between the neck opening and the sleeves, the shoulderportions and sleeves at one side at least of the garment comprisingflaps which normally' wrap over the shoulder and arm and which are heldin normal position by separable fastener means. Other and furtherobjects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out in thefollowing more detailed description and by reference to the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic front elevation illustrative of a preferredembodiment of the invention;

V Fig. 2 is-a front elevation to much larger scale than Fig. 1, andshowingthe same embodiment of the invention in detail but with,theshoulder portion and sleeve at one side of the garment opened toadmit the shoulder and arm of the wearer;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the garment as shown in Fig. 2 butviewed from the rear;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the garment of Figs. 2 and 3 butshowing theshoulder portions and sleeves at both sides of the garment opened out tofacilitate donning ;the garment; H

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic front elevation to the same scale as Fig. 1,showing another embodiment of the invention; and

Figs. 6 and 7 are similar views illustrating further embodiments of theinvention.

Referring to Fig. 1 the numeral 10 designates a body garment inaccordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, thegarment illustrated being an infants slip-on undershirt having a bodyportion comprising the front panel 11 and the rear panel 12, thesepanels being united by the side seams 13 and 14 respectively. Thegarment has the neck opening 15 of usual and normal size, the armscyes16 and 17, the shoulder portions 18 and 19 intervening between the neckopening and the respective armscye, and the sleeves 20 and 21 secured inthe respective armscyes. For convenience, the parts 11 and 12 are hereinreferred to as front and rear panels and as suggested they may beseparate parts united at the sides of the garment by seams. However,

the body portion of the garment may be of seamless,

tubular construction if desired. In such a garment, those portions whichextend between vertical fold lines running from the lowest part of eacharmscye to thebottom of the garment may be considered to constitute thefront and rear panels respectively. Moreover, while the garment, as hereshown, is of the slip-on type it may be of other type, for example, sucha double breasted garment as is disclosed in the patent to Wyner et al.,2,643,386, June 30, 1953.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the front panel 11 of the body portion of thegarment has an upward integral extension 22 at its shoulder portion 19while the rear panel 12 (Fig. 3) has a similar extension 23. Likewise,the sleeve 21 (Fig. 2) has an upward extension 24 at its front and asimilar upward extension 25 (Fig. 3) at its back. The extensions 22 and24 have free marginal edge portions 27 and 28 respectively, and theextensions 23 and 25 have the free marginal edges 29 and 30respectively. The extension 22 is united to the extension 24 by a seam31 which extends down along the armscye and beneath the sleeve 21 andthence upwardly to unite the extensions 23 and 25, as shown in Fig. 3.

In accordance with the preferred construction, the shoulder portion 18of the garment (Fig. l) at the other side is of the same construction asthe shoulder portion 19 just above described. The united extensions 22and 24 form a front flap, while the united extensions 23 and 25 form arear flap. In the preferred arrangement, such as illustrated in Figs. 2,3 and 4, the front flap overlies the rear flap when the garment is inuse. However, the reverse disposition of these flaps may be employed, ifdesired, with a proper rearrangement of the fastener elements now to bedescribed. Moreover, while in the preferred construction, both front andrear flaps are provided, it is contemplated that either the front orrear flap may be omitted and the free margin of the remaining flap maythen be detachably secured directly to the panel which has no extension.In accordance with customary practice the neck opening 15 is defined bya binding tape T, (Fig. 2) suitably sewn to the material of the garmentbody and in accordance with this invention this binding tape is carriedalong the marginal edges 27 and 28 to provide a suitable finish for theflaps. As here illustrated (Figs. 2 and 4) one element of a snapfastener F1 is secured to the interior of the front flap (of which theextension 22 forms a part) near the free margin of the flap andpreferably in the region of the seam 31, the seam providing asubstantially non-stretching point of anchorage for the fastenerelement. Desirably, the fastener element is mounted on a short piece P(Fig. 4) of woven tape of the like which in turn is sewn to the materialof the garment. A second fastener element F2 (Fig. 4) is secured to thegarment, preferably at a point on the seam 31 and by the use of ananchoring tape P. This second fastener element F2 is located below theextension 22, and as here illustrated, (Fig. 2) by way of example, atabout the horizontal level of the lowest point of the neck opening, thusbeing united to the front panel proper of the garment. To the exteriorof the rear flap, at the same side of the garment, fastener elements F3and F4 (Fig. 3), complementary to the fastener elements F1 and and F2are attached, these fastener elements F3 and F4 being likewisepreferably attached at the location of the seam 31 and with anchoringtapes P, and at locations cor-- responding to the locations of thefastener elements F1 and F2, respectively. It will be understood thatthe front and rear flaps at the opposite side of the garment will besimilarly provided with fastener elements.

In donning the garment, the flaps at opposite sides are unfastened andopened out to the position shown in Fig. 4. The garment may then bedrawn upwardly over the feet of the infant or pulled down over his headif desired, the armscyes being disposed immediately beneath the infantsarmpits. The rear flaps are then folded forwardly over the shoulders andabout the arms and the fastener elements F4 are engaged with theircomplemental fastener elements F2. Then the front flaps are foldedrearwardly over the rear flaps, and the fastener elements F1 are engagedwith the fastener elements F3. With the parts thus positioned thegarment fits snugly about the infant, with a double thickness of thematerial over the shoulders and over the upper parts of the arms, andwith the seams 31 extending beneath the arms and up over the shoulders,thus providing a very good support for the garment which will notsubstantially stretch during use. In removing the garment it is merelynecessary to disengage the fastener elements at each side whereupon thegarment may be pulled downwardly if desired without removing outerclothing.

While the arrangement just described is preferred, that is to say anarrangement in which the garment is of like construction at bothshoulder portions, nevertheless, if desired the construction makingpossible the opening of the shoulder portion and sleeve as abovedescribed may be confined to one side of the garment, the shoulderportion and sleeve at the other side being of any usual construction.

A slight modification is illustrated in Fig. 7, wherein the garment 10ais sleeveless but has the neck opening 15, the armscyes 16 and 17 andthe shoulder portions 18 and 19. In this garment the front and rearpanels 11 and 12 have integral extensions, such as the extensions 22 and23 of the garment previously described and these extensions are providedwith fastener elements for uniting them in overlapping relation acrossthe shoulder, all as above described, but since no sleeves are providedthere are no extensions such as the extensions 24 and 25, above referredto, to form parts of the front and rear flaps. In this arrangement thefastener elements would usually be located somewhat differently from thefastener elements illustrated in Figs. 2 to 4 inclusive, their exactlocation depending upon the particular shapes of the flaps and beingwell within the skill of the designer of such garments.

In Fig. 5 a further modification is illustrated wherein the front andrear panels 11a and 12a are permanently united at the shoulders, eitherintegrally or by the provision of usual shoulder seams, but areseparable from each other from points at the lower edge of the garmentalong lines at each side respectively of the garment up to therespective armscye. Likewise, the sleeves 20a and 21a respectively, aredivided, beneath the arms, from their outer ends to the armscyes andsuitable fasteners F5 and F6 are provided for securing the parts inoperative position. With this arrangement the parts 11a and 12a willfirst be disconnected and the fasteners F5 beneath the sleeves will beseparated and the garment will then be slipped over the infants head sothat the head 7 passes through the opening 15. The fasteners F5 willthen be united to cause the sleeves to encircle the arms and thefasteners F6 will be united to connect the front and rear panels.

In the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 6, the front panel 11b and therear panel 12b are separable along the sides of the garment as in thearrangement just described, illustrated in Fig. 5, and may be connectedby fastener devices F6 and the sleeves 20b and 21b are likewise arrangedto be opened beneath the arms, the parts of the sleeves being normallyconnected by the fasteners F5. However, in this arrangement the shoulderportions are also constructed to have separable parts united by thefasteners F7 and the sleeves 20b and 21b are also constructed to beopened at their upper portions and to be connected by the fasteners F8.With this arrangement the entire front and rear portions of the garmentare separable from each other and in donning the garment the infant maybe laid down upon the rear portion; the front portion placed over himand then the front and rear portions connected by the various fastenerelements F5, F6, F7 and F8.

While certain desirable embodiments of the invention have herein beenillustrated and described by way of example, it is to be understood thatthe invention is broadly inclusive of any and all equivalent construetions and embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A body garment designed to be donned by drawing it upwardly over thefeet of the wearer, said garment having armscyes and sleeves and a neckopening of usual and normal size, the garment comprising a front paneland a rear panel, both front and rear panels having integral upwardextensions at their right and left shoulder portions respectively, eachextension tapering upwardly in width and having a curved, free marginaledge forming a smooth continuation of the edge of the central part ofthe neck opening, each sleeve also having an upward extension at itsfront and rear respectively, each upward extension of each sleeve havinga free marginal edge which joins the free marginal edge of thecorresponding extension of the front or rear panel respectively, in asmooth, upwardly convex curve, a seam uniting the inner edge of eachupward extension of each sleeve to the outer edge of the upwardextension of the corresponding panel, said seam extending from thejunction of the free marginal edge of the front upward extension of thesleeve and the upward extension of the front panel downwardly along thearmscye and then upwardly to the junction of the free marginal edge ofthe rear upper extension of the sleeve with the upward extension of therear panel, the united front and rear extensions of each sleeve with theupward extensions of the front and rear panels respectively,constituting front and rear shoulder flaps, one of said flaps overlyingthe other flap to form a double thickness of material over the shoulderof the wearer when the garment is in use, one element of a separablefastener being secured to the interior of each of those flaps which isto be the overlying flap, said fastener elements being located close tothe free marginal edge of each of said overlying flaps and adjacent tothe seams which unite the sleeve and panel extensions, one element of asecond separable fastener being secured to the interior of each of saidoverlying flaps near the seam which unites the sleeve to thecorresponding panel extension and at about the horizontal level of thelowest point of the neck opening, the complemental elements of theseparable fasteners being arranged at the exterior of the underlyingflaps at locations corresponding to those of the first-named separablefastener elements, the upward extensions of each sleeve overlapping whenthe garment is in use.

2. A body garment designed to be donned by drawing it upwardly over thefeet of the wearer, said garment having armscyes and sleeves and a neckopening of usual and normal size, the garment comprising a front paneland a rear panel, the front and rear panels each having an integralupward extension at one shoulder portion at least of the garment, eachextension tapering upwardly in width and having a curved free marginaledge forming a smooth continuation of the edge of the central part ofthe neck opening, the sleeve at said one'shoulder portion, at least, ofthe garment also having an upward extension at its front and rearrespectively, each upward extension of said sleeve having a freemarginal edge which joins the free marginal edge of the correspondingupward extension of the front and rear panel respectively, in a smooth,upwardly convex curve, a seam uniting the inner edge of each upwardextension of said sleeve to the outer edge of the upward extension ofthe corresponding panel, said seam extending from the junction of thefree marginal edge of the front upward extension of the sleeve and theupward extension of the front panel downwardly along the armscye andthen upwardly to the junction of the free marginal edge of the rearupper extension of the sleeve with the upward extension of the rearpanel, the united front and rear extensions of said sleeve with theupward extensions of the front and rear panels respectively,constituting front and rear shoulder flaps, one of said flaps overlyingthe other flap to form a double thickness of material over the shoulderof the wearer when the garment is in use, one element of a separablefastener being exposed at the inner surface of that flap which is to bethe overlying flap, said fastener element being located close to thefree marginal edge of said overlying flap and adjacent to the same whichunites the sleeve and panel extensions, one element of a secondseparable fastener being exposed at the inner surface of said overlyingflap near the seam which unites the sleeve to the corresponding panelextension and at about the horizontal level of the lowest point of theneck opening, the complemental elements of the separable fasteners beingexposed at the exterior surface of the underlying flap at locationscorresponding to those of the first-named separable fastener elements,the upward extensions of said sleeve overlapping when the garment is inuse.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS782,819 Bikle Feb. 21, 1905 1,489,046 Thompson Apr. 1, 1924 2,484,710Humphlett Oct. 11, 1949 2,638,598 Abramson May 19, 1953 2,643,386 Wyneret al. June 30, 1953

